Jordaan and Oliphant ‘blame game’ intensifies need for parliamentary briefing

7 June 2015

Former SAFA president Molefi Oliphant has claimed that current SAFA president Danny Jordaan “betrayed him” by failing to disclose the existence of the 2007 letter Jordaan wrote to FIFA requesting that payments be made to CONCACAF (see here). 

This after he claims Jordaan had the opportunity to disclose his letter to FIFA when SAFA officials met face to face on two separate occasions last week. 

Oliphant has labelled this an attempt to paint him as the person behind the alleged bribe to CONCACAF.

This tension between Jordaan and Oliphant serves as further evidence of the need for an urgent parliamentary briefing on the circumstances of the $10 million payment.

The DA has formally requested Committee Chair, Beauty Dlulane, to schedule this briefing and will leave no stone unturned in ensuring Danny Jordaan and Molefi Oliphant, and others in the bid and local organizing committee account to Parliament. We will reiterate this demand in Committee on Tuesday.

Government ought to be operating in a unified manner in order to furnish the nation with the answers we deserve. 

Instead, we see senior officials engaging in finger pointing and bullet dodging. This is unbecoming of such senior figures, and shows contempt for the success of the tournament we so proudly held. 

The 2010 World Cup is a proud moment in South African history and will continue to live on in the memories of our citizens, as it should.

It is, however, important to get to the bottom of the allegations regarding the $10 million payment, which could have been used for sport development in our country. In order to do so, it is imperative for both Danny Jordaan and Molefi Oliphant to appear before parliament on the matter. 

Statement issued by Solly Malatsi MP, DA Shadow Minister of Sports and Recreation, June 7 2015